The European Commission imposed, on Thursday 5 January, a ” Red card “ to Cameroon for its lack of cooperation in the fight against illegal fishing, by proposing to add this country to the list of sanctioned States.
“We have zero tolerance for IUU fishing [illicite, non déclarée et non réglementée]and the Commission has therefore acted firmly today by issuing a red card to Cameroon”said EU Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius.
The European executive had sent a ” yellow card “ in Cameroon in February 2021 and classified this country as “uncooperative”pointing “incapacity” authorities of the country to “ensure adequate control of the national fishing fleet”.
“Cameroon has continued to register vessels fishing outside its waters, including an IUU fishing vessel, without their activities being subject to any monitoring”explains the Commission in a press release.
“One of the most serious threats”
The Brussels executive announces that it wants to propose to EU member states to add Cameroon to the blacklist of countries “uncooperative” whose fish products are banned from the European market for failing to meet EU health standards.
The inclusion on the black list also implies in particular the prohibition for Europeans to acquire fishing vessels flying the Cameroonian flag or to carry out joint fishing operations with these vessels.
Illegal fishing is “one of the most serious threats to the sustainable exploitation of living aquatic resources”underlines the Commission, which says it is ready to continue discussions with Cameroon in order to help this Central African country to remedy the shortcomings noted.
The Commission has issued red cards to six other countries since 2013: Belize, Cambodia, Comoros, Guinea, Sri Lanka and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Among these countries, Belize, Guinea and Sri Lanka have made the changes required to get off the blacklist.